Excelsior Springs Business and Professional Women's Club

Members of

Calendar:

Excelsior Springs BPW Meeting
April meeting will be held Thursday, April 17, 2008.
Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. followed by business meeting
Call Sonya at 816-630-8480 dinner reservation.

Sheila Miller, recently back from attending the 2008 Policy & Action Conference in Washington, D.C., will be speaking. The conference covered issues affecting workingwomen and their families in areas of legislation including HEART for Women Act, Fair Pay Restoration Act, and Family Leave Insurance Act.

The meeting will be held at the Excelsior Springs Medical Center dining room, dinner at 6:30 p.m., followed by program at 7 p.m. Members will also be holding installation of officers.

Excelsior Springs BPW is inviting and encouraging area women to attend and learn how participation in BPW provides an opportunity to better the workplace for women and families.

News:

Community Service Award presented

Margaret Grayson, left, director of the Superior Park Assisted Living Facility, was the recipient of the 2007 Community Service Award, presented by Courtney Cole, president, Excelsior Springs Business and Professional Women. The local chapter recognizes a woman who has made exceptional contributions to the community each October, during National BPW Week.

Miller attends Proclamation presentation

Missouri Business and Professional Women (BPW) members with Governor Matt Blunt, L-R, Sheila Miller, Legislative Chair, Missouri BPW, Noel Elliott, Membership Chair, Greater Ozarks Chapter, State Conference Chair, 2009, Sharon Magnan , President Elect Missouri BPW, Governor Matt Blunt, Vicki Silkwood, President, Missouri BPW, Pat Houk, Recording Secretary Great Ozarks BPW, Laura Gajda, Publicity Chair, Missouri BPW.

Business and Professional Women’s Chapters across the state are celebrating National Business Women’s Week, Oct. 15- 21. Working women in the Unites States comprise 69 million of the nation’s work force and women own 28 percent of all businesses, generating $1.2 trillion in sales. The national, state and local chapter of Business and Professional Women (BPW) exist to promote equality for all women and to help create better conditions for workingwomen through the study of social, educational, economic and political problems.

Sheila Miller, Excelsior Springs BPW, was in attendance for the Govenor's presentation of a Proclamation honoring the achievements and contributions of working women in the State of Missouri. Miller is a past President of the local chapter, Treasurer and President Elect of the Northwest Region BPW, and Legislative Chair of the State Chapter. Miller will also be attending the BPW/USA Policy & Action Conference held in Washington, DC, February 13-16, 2008.

The Excelsior Springs Business and Professional Women salute the working women of Missouri during National Business Women's Week, October 15-21

Members of the local organization discussed the issue of pay equity during their September meeting. Five members attended and were joined by State President Vicki Silkwood and District Chairperson Kathy Anderson.

Forty-three percent of Missouri's workforce are being paid less than their colleagues for doing the same or comparable jobs. This is gender wage discrimination and it has a significant impact on the economic security of Missouri families. In Missouri, women are paid only 75 cents for every dollar men are paid. Families supported by women workers are most significantly impacted by this wage gap. When you're scrambing to make ends meet, losing a quarter of every pay check is devastating to a family budget.

At the end of July, the House passed the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831). This bill would overturn the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. This decision severely weakened remedies for employees who face pay discrimination. The plaintiff is this case, Lilly Ledbetter, suffered from decades of pay discrimination and sexual harrassment, and the Supreme Court took her compensation away by ruling that she waited too long to file her case. Currently under Title VII victims of compensation discrimination have no recourse against that discrimination unless they file a charge within 180 days of the employer's discriminatory decision, even when the discrimination continues to the present.

When Ledbetter retired in 1999 after nearly 20 years as a supervisor, she was making $44,724 a year. But as she told a House committee June 13, the lowest-paid male in the same job was earning $51,432 a year, while the highest paid man doing the same work was earning $62,832. She told the committee she had long suspected she was being paid less than the men in the same job, but until she received two anonymous packages showing the differing pay rates, she had no hard evidence of the pay discrimination.

While passage of the Ledbetter Act is an important first step in returning Title VII, the law against employment discrimination, to its original intention regarding remedies for pay discrimination, there is still much work to do to eliminate the systemic pay discrimination faced by women workers. The Excelsior Springs BPW urges you to contact Senator Christopher Bond and Senator Claire McCaskill today about supporting the Fair Pay Restoration Act.

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Rain Gauges
now available
through BPW

Rain gauges made by club member Sandra Clay are available for $20 each and proceeds are used to help support community activities.

The rain gauges are popular as gift-giving items, as well as a useful and unique garden feature.

For more information or to place an order, please contact Sandra at 630-2475.